Selling Your Book At Book Fairs

By Sebastian Barnes

ASPA member Sebastian Barnes explains his personal marketing strategies and the benefits he has found in attending book fairs. He provides details of upcoming events, too, if you would like to try them for yourself.

Having finally written and self-published my first book, I’m turning to ways to promote and sell it.  At the point of publishing through IngramSpark, I used their weblink and QR code to promote through my work-related colleagues and friends, either by direct email or social media, Facebook and LinkedIn.  This generated some immediate sales, about 9 copies over two weeks, mainly from my close contacts. 

The other flurry of sales was at the ABTT (Association of British Theatre Technicians) trade show in June 2025.  As I have voluntarily supported the organisation for many years, the show organiser allowed me a free space to promote and sell.  I sold 14 copies over the two days of the show, and included signing each copy.  I wondered how can I improve the sales of my book, other than directly through IngramSpark?

I have recently discovered another potential way to sell, at book fairs.  Through Facebook, I happened on a book fair very near me called Birmingham Book Extravaganza, organised by Rosie’s Retro Bazaar and independent publisher, Fantom.  This particular one Monday event was set up in an historic building in a local park, Lightwoods House, Birmingham.  It ran from 10.30 to 16.00, with public ticket pricing of £2.00 and free for under 16’s, students and over 65’s.  The event was described as a “literary adventure like no other”, emphasising local talent and organisations, and including stalls of publishers, book shops, local authors & writers, book-related crafts & memorabilia, prints and posters, literary societies, stationery and writing accessories.

Lightwoods House

As a new author, I decided I couldn’t miss this event, particularly as I qualified for free entry.  Upon arriving at about 11.00, I found the organisers very welcoming and describing the event layout.  In the magnificent late 18^th-century country house set in 16-acre parkland, they had used three large indoor rooms and an outdoor marquee. 

Situated on the boundary of Birmingham and Sandwell, the house and park are now owned and run by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council as a public amenity, venue hire and a small tea room restaurant.

I spent about two hours wandering around the impressive range of stalls, trestle tables set up around each room.  I saw many independent author/ publishers displaying one or more of their books, ranging from children’s to specialist fiction, a number of crafters selling book-related crafts and some selling fairly niche books.  I was particularly interested in one stall of second-hand books, buying a couple that caught my eye. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see Wayne Kelly, an independent writer, producer, trainer and podcast host, selling his books and services.  He immediately recognised me from his one-day course on self-publishing I had recently attended.  Wayne was grateful for my positive feedback on his course and congratulated me on publishing my first book. 

The whole event was very relaxed, welcoming, with stall holders wiling to chat about their particular items and interests.  In talking to some stall holders I realised some were promoting professional products and services and some doing their ‘thing’ at hobby or second job level. 

Immediately I thought this might suit me to promote and sell my book, so I asked the organisers about the pricing and arrangements for stalls at future events.  They told me that applications for stalls are on a ‘first come’ basis in the months before each event.  The stall pricing ranges from £22 to £40 depending on size and placement.  A basic stall includes a 1.5 or 1.8 metre table and one chair.  Each stall holder is expected to provide all other materials or table dressings.  It looks like the organisers rent the various venues, balancing stall and entrance income against the venue costs, hence variations between events.

Through their website I noticed they arrange a series of these events, mainly in the West Midlands, across the year including Birmingham, Coventry, Lichfield, and Market Harborough.  By late July they have five events listed, in August, October and November, in Lightwoods House a guildhall, a hotel and a theatre.  I noticed that most of the stall spaces already sold out, although they offer a ‘waiting list’ for cancellations.

https://www.rosiesretrobazaar.co.uk/tradewithus

In conclusion, I believe this sort of event has a usefulness in promoting and selling your works at a local level, whilst gaining an insight into the local literary community.  Choosing to attend naturally needs to consider your costs against potential income, unless you consider it a ‘loss leader’.  I would need to sell 3 copies of my book to offset my event costs.  We also need to think about our attitude to the public attending these events.  Walking around this sort of event there can be an initial reluctance to approach stall holders in case you engage an ‘over chatty’ stall holder.  This doesn’t mean we need to adopt an annoying ‘customer service attitude’.  I believe we need to take an empathic approach and think what you would want as a member of the public.

Sebastian Barnes is new to writing.  Following an extensive career in backstage theatre, he has written the first collection of anecdotes from his varied career.  His first book is called ’That’s my cue’, available through IngramSpark.  He has a second volume of anecdotes in progress. To find out more, follow the link below:

https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=Es2jN1xx9rqEG0ECm8FEjbDUdAUvzipWz5Z9VpHLVc0